Villanova opens Big East schedule at Creighton seeking improved play following its loss at Baylor
The Wildcats shot just 22.2% and scored 36 points in their loss at Baylor, and now try to rebound against a Bluejays team that usually gives them trouble, particularly in Omaha.
OMAHA, Neb. – The nightmares of countless missed shots and an opponent that seemed to have eight players swarming in Villanova’s offensive end of the court at all times have had five days to subside, but the Wildcats must hit the road again to visit another tough venue.
The ninth-ranked Cats (7-3) start Big East Conference play Friday night, taking on Creighton at the CHI Health Center. The Bluejays (8-3) aren’t exactly an easy opponent to resume play against after the stifling defense of Baylor left the ‘Nova offense virtually helpless in Sunday’s 57-36 pasting in Waco, Texas.
» READ MORE: No. 6 Villanova suffers through a historically bad scoring day and is routed 57-36 by No. 2 Baylor
Coach Jay Wright said his team has had some good practices this week despite being in the middle of final exams, and he felt that his players have bounced back well. But what won’t be known until the Cats enter another noisy road environment is whether their confidence took a hit against Baylor.
“I hope not,” Wright said Thursday in a Zoom call. “I always think about that, but I hope not. It’s our job as coaches to make sure that doesn’t happen. I think our leaders, Justin [Moore] and Collin [Gillespie] and Jermaine [Samuels], are pretty confident players. I think they’ll let the rest of the team know that we’re still a good basketball team.”
The Wildcats posted identical 6-of-27 shooting numbers from two-point and three-point range against the Bears, for a 22.2% mark. Moore had the best scoring performance of the day with 15 points but his two fifth-year senior teammates struggled.
After taking one shot in the first 17 minutes, Gillespie hit back-to-back threes before halftime but didn’t score again. Samuels had issues with the Bears’ size and length inside and hit only 1-of-6 attempts for two points, although he had a team-high eight rebounds.
“They’re one of the best teams in the country so there’s a lot you can learn from them, how they play,” Gillespie said. “Then it’s yourself as well – coming back, watching film, getting in practice again, working on our habits and concepts, fine-tuning those and just being more physical and doing all the little things a lot harder, competing on every possession.”
Creighton lost all five starters from last year’s team, including floor leader Marcus Zegarowski and three-point specialist Mitch Ballock, each of whom is playing in the G League. The Bluejays are led in scoring by 6-foot-7 senior Ryan Hawkins at 13.7 points per game, and 7-1 sophomore Ryan Kalkbrenner comes in at 12.7 points and 6.6 rebounds.
Kalkbrenner, who averages 2.64 blocked shots, is the key. Eric Dixon, at 6-9, is the Wildcats’ tallest player and may try to lure Kalkbrenner out to the mid-range area where he would need to hit shots to be effective. Senior Dhamir Cosby-Roundtree is also 6-9 but has seen limited playing time.
The Bluejays offense has been a bit inconsistent, scoring 80 or more points four times but 60 or less on three occasions. Wright said it’s their speed of play, in both their transition game and the way they cut in the half-court, that’s most concerning.
“They’ve got a lot of new guys,” Wright said, “but it’s amazing. The system is the same. The pace of play, the speed of play, is the same, and their defensive toughness. It’s impressive how coach [Greg] McDermott keeps his system rolling. So it’s always a tough place to play, always a tough style of play for us.”
For all their struggles at Baylor, the Wildcats still played tough defense, limiting the Bears to a season low for points and holding them to sub-40% shooting.
Villanova is 5-3 at Creighton since the reorganization of the Big East, losing 86-70 last year. Almost two years ago in the same venue, the Wildcats trailed for more than 35 minutes but rode Gillespie’s 24 points to a 64-59 win.
Wright hopes to see a more solid performance Friday night than he saw earlier in the week.
“I think we’ve learned and these guys have learned over the years, you’ve got to take any loss as an opportunity to grow and learn, and I hope we have,” he said. “We learned a lot about how much harder we have to play and how much we have to execute better offensively. I hope we can show that in the Creighton game.”